Rohan's Calling Online

by A. J. Chaudhury

Ladyjane grimaced at him.

  “I hope you stop doing things like that,” she said. “Or I might have to get a different boyfriend.”

  Rajahard knelt down suddenly so that I thought something had happened to him, his face covered with his hands. He began making sobbing sounds. Anybody could tell that he was faking them.

  “That would be …” he said in a broken voice, “very tragic.”

  “Can we just go to the village, Rajahard? Look, I am not getting a new boyfriend, all right?” Ladyjane said, lines of frustration on her forehead. Rajahard sprung to his feet at once.

  “That’s better.”

  “On a second thought,” Ladyjane said with a naughtier grin, shooting me a look, “perhaps it won’t be that bad to make Rohan my … you know.”

  Rajahard looked at Ladyjane and then at me. He reminded me of an owl that had just woken up. Rajahard burst out laughing.

  “Too bad, my love,” he said to Ladyjane, “Rohan’s already got Lovebird—”

  “I think we should really get going,” Lovebird broke in hastily. “I would like to kick some Rak ass.”

  “Yes, me too,” I said. I really wanted to get out of the awkward moment. Rajahard sometimes spoke too much.

  Without waiting for the rest of us, Lovebird began to run. And we hurried after her.

  “Hey... hey!” Rajahard said. “Guys, that’s not the way to the village!”

  It took us a moment to get moving in the correct direction to the Rak village. Lovebird’s face had become red as a cherry.

  As we were running, a dark shadow suddenly moved over us.

  “Drop down!” Ladyjane said. We all dropped to the ground immediately.

  I looked up to see through the branches of the trees a pterodactyl passing overhead, its great wings outstretched.

  “I hope that thing didn’t see us,” Ladyjane said.

  It was a moment before we considered it safe to move again. It took us another half an hour to reach the village of the Raks. This village was a contrast to the villages I had been to earlier. This one had a big gate, which was guarded by four Raks. They were the giant warriors of level 30 who carried the big swords that they never dropped even after they were killed.

  “How do we get past them?” Lovebird asked. Her face had finally lost the redness. I hoped Rajahard wouldn’t say things again that made her feel awkward.

  “Simple,” Rajahard said. “With spells and swords.”

  “Can I use your sword?” Ladyjane suddenly asked me. I was a bit surprised. She was asking me the sword that I had taken from Ravana. “I always stay back,” she continued, “I really would like to join this fight.”

  “Erm…” I began, not knowing what to say. Ladyjane was a healer, not a warrior or a multi-tasker. Using swords wouldn’t be easy for her.

  “Have you gone round the bent?” Rajahard asked Ladyjane, and he was quite serious this time. “You are a healer. We need you to heal us.”

  “Please, just this one time?” Ladyjane said, “Besides, don’t you tell me yourself that all I do is hide, while everyone else is out there fighting?”

  “Why didn’t you become a warrior or a multi-tasker if you wanted to fight so much?” Rajahard said with an exasperated frown.

  “Just this once… please?” Ladyjane insisted. Then she grimaced. “Screw it. I don’t need your permission to go fighting.”

  “Fine, then,” Rajahard said. “Get us all killed. Rohan, give her your sword.”

  With some hesitation, I gave Ladyjane the sword. Without the sword I felt quite vulnerable. Thankfully at least I had the paralysis spell.

  “It will be great to fight with you by my side,” Lovebird told Ladyjane.

  “I am not helping you with my spells,” Rajahard grumbled.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Ladyjane said. “Rohan will, won’t he?” She raised a brow at me.

  “Er, yes,” I said with a glance at Rajahard who looked quite cranky and seemed to have given up all hope on the fight.

  Ladyjane and Lovebird cautiously approached the group of guard Raks, while Rajahard and I waited behind the bushes.

  “Come on, you can help them,” I told Rajahard softly. “She just wanted to fight once. It’s not that bad a thing, right? She’ll have fun. This game was meant to have fun, right? To get away from boredom.”

  “Yeah, well,” Rajahard said, his frown relaxing, “I guess you are right. I’ll help the two of them. But first, let’s see how they fare on their own. Oh, wait. Why don’t you send your pets to help them?”

  My pets.

  Danav and Danavma.

  Why did I keep forgetting about them? I had been unable to summon them the other night because of the effects of the dart, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t call them today.

  I summoned the two monkey people just as Lovebird and Ladyjane let loose their fury on the Raks.

  “Go help them!” I said to the mother and son pair.

  It was amazing to watch Ladyjane, or perhaps it was just her luck, but within just a few moments she had killed her first warrior Rak. The first time I had killed a Rak of level 30 it had taken me a good while, so it surprised me to see an inexperienced Ladyjane do the same so quickly, though it must be noted that she did suffer a number of hits and her health dropped steeply. But just then Danav and Danavma reached the gate. They helped in the fight, keeping Ladyjane safe from further attack. Ladyjane utilised this opportunity to use the electric powers of the sword to bring down another Rak. Danav and Danavma meanwhile helped Lovebird kill the other two Raks.

  Soon, the gate had been won and the ground was littered with loot. Both Ladyjane and Lovebird grinned at us as we approached the two of them. Neither Rajahard nor I had used any spell on the mobs. The achievement was Ladyjane’s and Lovebird’s even though there had been help from my pets. Both of the girls looked badass, their untidy hair giving them a wild appearance. Ladyjane had the flat of my sword on her shoulder, her eyes fixed on Rajahard.

  “See?” she said to him.

  “Yeah, whatever,” Rajahard shrugged. “Thank Rohan, his sword and his pets.” Ladyjane’s face became pale.

  Lovebird let out a giggle. Oh, I loved that sound.

  “It’s not easy to use that sword,” I said to Ladyjane so that she lit up. “The first time I used it, it was quite difficult.”

  “Thanks, Rohan,” Ladyjane said. “But I must say it is a very good sword, and Danav and Danavma really helped, and so did Lovebird.”

  The she handed me back my sword, and picked up a vial of health that one of the Raks had dropped.

  “It was fun fighting. But I guess I will stick with healing from now on.”

  Next, we divided the loot amongst ourselves.

  “Now let’s conquer the inside of this village,” Rajahard said. “I think—”

  Just then Rajahard froze. He pointed at the sky. A pterodactyl was descending.

  “Shit!” I cried.

  “Down everyone!” Ladyjane said.

  The pterodactyl scooped over our heads and then landed at some place inside the village.

  “Great, we’ll have to fight that too now,” Rajahard said sulkily.

  “Don’t worry,” Lovebird said, “It’s going to be fun.”

  “It sure will be,” I added. “I’d like to try my sword on a pterodactyl.”

  “I have never used my spells on a monster before,” Rajahard said, “dunno if my spells will cause it any harm.”

  With fear in our veins, we entered the village. There were Rak children running about playing. When they saw us, they became frightened and ran to their homes in panic. Their parents came out with swords. They were mostly farmers and only a couple were warriors. It wasn’t hard to kill them all since there were six of us in total including Danav and Danavma.

  We went towards the centre of the village, our hearts beating like drums. We knew we would come face to face with the pterodactyl any moment now. Lovebird was the first to see it and she gasped loud enough to give me a heart
attack. The great monster with the bat-like wings was just in front of the chieftain’s hut. The chieftain and the village priest stood near the beast, sheer anger dripping from their eyes. The chieftain wore a big ring on his finger which he took to his mouth and muttered something. The pterodactyl began to move towards us. It did not take to the air yet, but it was still deadly. It opened its long mouth filled with razor-like teeth, and made a screeching sound at us.

  I swung my sword. Electricity leapt from it and hit the monster.

  Its health dropped by 50. Not a big deal as its total health was 2000. The pterodactyl screeched again at us like a really mad bat. Then it flapped its great wings, such that we were almost thrownfrom our feet as the wind hit us. It took to the skies.

  Higher and higher it went.

  Abruptly it stopped flapping its wings and began the descent. I looked at the chieftain who was controlling the pterodactyl, the priest standing by his side. I swung my great sword and electricity hit the chieftain, throwing him backwards.

  I gazed up at the sky. The pterodactyl suddenly became confused. In its confusion it slowed down, and when it reached near the ground it didn’t attack us and instead flew to the sky again. I turned at the chieftain controlling the monster. If I could kill him it would be much easier to deal with the pterodactyl.

  “Attack the chieftain!” I said to everyone. I swung my sword again, and electricity leapt from it. However, this time the priest waved his hand, and some kind ofa shield formed between us and the two Raks. The electricity hit the shield and harmlessly bounced away.

  “First the blasted priest!” Rajahard said.

  “The pterodactyl is descending again!” Lovebird said.

  “My spells are not working on the priest,” Rajahard said in fury, “he seems to have some kind of a repellent charm about him.”

  “If spells don’t work,” I said, while my heart beat fast as I saw the fast descending monster, “we must get physical. Danav and Danavma, go teach the Raks a lesson.”

  Danav and Danavma ran towards the two Raks. But just then, the pterodactyl reached near the ground.It grabbed Danav with its claws and flew away.

  “Damn it,” I said as a sinkingsensation took hold of my stomach. Danav was really struggling hard in the reptile's claws and if the reptile dropped him he would die for sure. Danavma lost her temper and threw herself at the priest and the chieftain with a great shriek that was frightening even to me.

  The priest threw some kind of spell at her and her health lowered significantly. But she was able to reach him and then it was hand to hand combat with the priest. Meanwhile the translucent shield had disappeared now that the priest was distracted.

  I threw a quick paralysis spell at the chieftain, who froze for a moment. I ran and leapt upon him. Just then the spell ended and he hit me with his sword. I was thrown away. My health dropped by 100.

  “Don’t worry,” Ladyjane shouted at me, “I am healing you.” My health began to rise again.

  Lovebird too came running towards me. She helped me get up to my feet. And together the two of us attacked the chieftain. Thankfully, Rajahard paralysed him for a moment which was a great help, and though it took some time to bring him down we emerged victorious.

  Then we turned towards the priest. The priest was of a much higher level than Danavma. But Danavma, being a mother, was determined. And she had brought his health down to a great extent, despite heavy losses to her own health. It was inevitable that she would perish if the priest, who was using both his dagger and his spells, was not intervened.

  “I got him, Danavma,” I said, raising my sword. Danavma moved away for a moment and I was able to behead the priest, who died immediately. Despite dropping considerable loot neither the priest nor the chieftain dropped any health vials. Luckily I had some vials in my bag. I took one myself and gave one each to the others.

  Meanwhile the pterodactyl was circling the sky overhead, Danav still in its claws.

  “How do I get my son back?” Danavma said, a shiver of great emotion in her voice.

  I had a sudden idea, although I wasn’t sure if it would work.

  “Can’t you return to your home as you always do?” I asked her.

  She shook her head.

  “It’s not possible. Not with him in the claws of the beast.”

  The warrior had dropped the ring. I now went and picked it up.

  “It’s impossible,” Rajahard said. “Only a Rak can control the pterodactyl.”

  “No harm in trying, eh?” I said. Not sure how to use the ring, I rubbed it and said, “Descend.”

  The moment I spoke the word, the pterodactyl seemed to forget how to fly. It literally fell from the sky.

  “No!” Danavma cried. “My son will perish along with the beast.”

  “And so will we,” Rajahard added, for the pterodactyl was falling directly towards us.

  “Move out of the way,” Ladyjane said, as the pterodactyl uncontrollably fell towards us. We ran away from the spot where we predicted it would fall. But just then I remembered the ring. My saying “descend” had started the fall of the pterodactyl. What if I said “ascend”? It was a last chance at saving Danav. Danavma had rivers of tears flowing down her monkey-like face.

  “Ascend!” I yelled at the ring.

  Mere moments before hitting the ground, the pterodactyl flapped its wings. Instead of hitting the spot from where we had moved away, the pterodactyl now came towards us, even as it tried in vain to stabilise itself by flapping its wings. My plan had gone entirely wrong.

  The others ran away, but the out-of-control pterodactyl came directly towards me. The next few moments I could barely comprehend what was happening. The great body of the pterodactyl hit me. I was thrown away and then the body of the beast came to rest upon me, such that I was buried underneath it. Only my neck and head were out. Intense pain took over me, and my health fell.

  My health plummeted and soon I had just 3 health left. Perhaps I was lucky because just then the pterodactyl moved its body away, such that I was no longer under its immense weight. Any moment I would slip to unconsciousness. Suddenly I realised that the pterodactyl was looking directly into my eyes. Those red eyes… they reminded me of Death13’s. My mouth felt dry and I didn’t know what to do. The beast was going to bite my head off. Not the best way to die. Not even in a game world.

  And then Rajahard brought a sword down on the pterodactyl’s head. The head rolled off. Blood squirted from its neck and I was bathed in crimson. I lost consciousness.

  To my surprise, I woke up just a few minutes later. And no, I didn’t respawn back at my room in the Ravana inn where my birthstone was. I woke up in the Rak village itself where I had lost consciousness. The others were gathered around me. A bruised up Danav with just 20 health was there too. My head was on Lovebird’s lap and she was holding a half-empty health vial next to my mouth.

  “Drink the rest of it,” she said with a smile.

  “I am sorry,” I croaked, “I shouldn’t have told the pterodactyl to ascend.”

  “Danav is safe and so is everyone,” Danavma said, “drink the potion.”

  I did.

  My health climbed back to optimum. I sat up slowly. I still felt like a thousand needles were pricking me all over my body. But thankfully with every passing moment the number of needles seemed to be decreasing.

  Rajahard handed me the sword.

  “I can’t believe I actually used the sword and killed the blasted pterodactyl,” he said. “I keep teasing Ladyjane but my skills with a sword are usually pathetic.”

  “They weren’t pathetic today,” Ladyjane said, smiling at Rajahard, her eyes filled with love.

  The body of the pterodactyl had disappeared and so had its blood.

  “Will the pterodactyl respawn?” I found myself asking.

  “It might, it might not,” Rajahard answered. “Even if it does it will respawn in its original habitat, which is Dinoland. Not here, since the Raks only tamed it. But the Raks the
mselves will respawn in a matter of minutes.”

  Danav and Danavma were also given health potions. Once their health was restored, I told them that they could return to their home after thanking them for all they had done for me today.

  Just then I felt a fuzzy feeling as a message popped up.

  Quest completed!

  Congratulations!

  You receive 7000 gold!

  You have levelled up!

  You can now access the map!

  It happened to the others too. Rajahard let out a whistle, since he had apparently received a new gift.

  “Yay!” he said, “I can now do certain spells without requiring a lot of mana!”

  “I just got access to the map,” I said. I selected the new map icon, and the map appeared in the bottom left of my vision. I could see for twenty-five kilometres in every direction. However one drawback that the map had was that it didn’t show the names of any places. I didn’t mind, as I was sure that the names of places would start appearing on the map from the next time I level up.

  “You can probably see in a radius of twenty-five kilometres,” Rajahard said, “I can see for thirty. I wish if only I could see more.”

  “I can heal faster now,” Ladyjane said.

  “What about you?” I asked Lovebird. But her mind seemed to be somewhere else altogether.

  “I think I should log out,” she said, “I have been in the game for way too long.”

  “If you are worried for your brother, you should immediately log out,” I said to her.

  “Okay, bye everyone,” she said, her face pale with worry. She disappeared.

  “I wonder what’s wrong with her,” Ladyjane said. “She barely stays in the game world.”

  “She’s got problems at home,” I said. “Big problems.”

  “I thought that too,” Ladyjane said, “but she hasn’t told anything about her problems to me so far.”

  I thought of telling Ladyjane that Lovebird was from a war-torn country. But I held back my tongue since I didn’t know if Lovebird would approve of that. At the same time I had a sudden thought what if Lovebird was a member of the Kartoshi gang like me, and was getting paid for playing? It would explain how she had access to the game capsule, despite it being expensive.